What will Theresa May’s ‘mean­ing­ful vote’ re­ally mean for ex-pats?

I hope Theresa May had a good Christ­mas for she has very lit­tle chance of a happy new year.

The curse of Brexit will con­tinue to haunt the British Prime Min­is­ter and her be­lea­guered govern­ment, start­ing with the so-called ‘mean­ing­ful vote’ on the with­drawal agree­ment that she hopes will be ap­proved by par­lia­ment be­fore Jan­uary is out.

That vote will have a huge bear­ing not only on the United King­dom but on the lives of expat Bri­tons around the world, in­clud­ing the thou­sands who live and work here in Cyprus. There are a num­ber of likely out­comes each with its own set of con­se­quences. So, if ... change her mind. A choice be­tween a no-deal Brexit and May’s deal would seem likely to pro­duce a favourable re­sult for the prime min­is­ter, but Mrs May would have great difficulty get­ting ap­proval for that ref­er­en­dum from her own Con­ser­va­tive party.

It is hard to see how May could lead her party into an­other elec­tion. If she did, and she won, she would get her deal. If Labour won, Jeremy Cor­byn would press for an agree­ment to keep the UK in a Cus­toms Union. This could be good news for ex­pats. But Cor­byn is op­posed to free move­ment of labour and is un­likely to get one without the other.